Emerging student support trends on social media platforms in open education system

Diversity of interactive environments has increased with use of developing technology in open education systems. In this sense social media platforms allows to coming together of learners. Distance education institutions can make important decisions by following students’ interaction in these environments. Especially students established themselves non-formal social media platforms are subject of investigation. There are different support needs of students throughout student learning life in distance education institutions. These issues are called student affair in distance education literature. These issues may vary by countries, region or program. Anadolu University is a mega-university in distance education area. There are some student support issues in this system and they attempt to find supports. Some of them can be listed as follows: New Registration and Registration Renewal, Examination Services, Course Exemption, Student Certificates, Forgotten Password and Sign-in Problems, Academic Amnesty, Military Service, Student ID Cards, Diploma and Diploma Supplements, Associate Degree, Honor Certificate, Postage and Shipping Services, İnternational Programs and Tuition Fee. In this subject some solutions can produce by following trends of students. In this study, Facebook groups have been investigated which created by distance education learners on social media platforms. These groups were analyzed with maximum interaction and Open Education Faculty Department of Sociology Facebook group is selected. Interaction and trends in the group are discussed in the context of student support. NodeXL, Gephi and Quintly software are used for social network analysis based on shares, comment and likes. The research aims to uncover student support trends on social networks. Student trends will be discussed under categories. Findings of the research can contribute to development of student support activities in this open education system. Further learners’ trends are important to show that intensity topics. Emerging student support trends on social media platforms is important to produce solutions.Keywords: Student support; open and distance learning; social networks; content analyses; sociology